LavaClan Roleplay Sample
by SnickieFics
Summary: IslandClans AU. After a long drought, a young apprentice finds a small island they'd never seen before, and with it lingers a smoky aroma. Of course, they must investigate. Written as a roleplay sample that kind of got out of hand, for mod tryouts at the IslandClans, hence the oh-so-original title.


**A|N:** So, this is like totally ancient. This is back from when I was sending in my roleplay sample in to Islandstar when trying out to be a mod on the IslandClans forums (which is unfortunately dead now, RIP ;a; ). I was trying out for LavaClan leader, and I got it. Hooray! Now, on to the story.

* * *

Seastar prowled throughout his camp. It was dusk, and the patrols had returned with good hunting and no signs of rogues. Once the sun had finally set and every cat was inside their dens at curfew, he padded inside his own den and fell asleep.

The next morning, he could sense something queer was going to happen soon, taking soon to mean that very day, perhaps morning. Gingerly padding out of his den, he scanned the groups of cats eating breakfast, unsure as to whether one might be an impostor waiting for his chance to attack and wreak havoc. He sniffed every last piece of the tiny mouse he grabbed from the pile, unsure as to whether it was poisoned. Slowly but surely, he took a nibble. The taste was overwhelmingly delicious, distracting him enough to finish before he became overly cautious again.

"Not expecting anything unusual, are you?"

The question startled Seastar. Not just the content, but also the fact that he had not sensed his deputy Vinetail padding up behind him as he ate.

"I sent out the dawn patrol while you were sleeping in. They should be back soon, if there's no trouble," Vinetail continued.

Seastar, at this point looking slightly zoned out, came back into focus as he noticed Vinetail's face turn worried. Shaking his head to clear it, he turned back to Vinetail and mentioned the weather.

The weather, truthfully enough, was worth mentioning on this particular morning. It had been completely clear the night before, yet now clouds were rolling over, and rather dark looking.

"Looks like the drought is finally ending, Seastar," commented Vinetail.

"Yes, I believe so..." replied Seastar absently.

Vinetail gave her leader a worried look. "Something bothering you?"

Seastar realized his actions were portraying what was on his mind. "No, not at all," he replied, a little too quickly. Shaking himself, he got up to listen to the dawn patrol's report, for they had just returned.

Kestrelpool, the leader of this particular patrol spoke: "The island is clear, except for stale scent of rats which we think were eating a dead rabbit. It was crow-food, you could smell it several fox-lengths away. We also picked up a hint of smoke in the air. It could be the volcano, but I thought you should know anyways."

"Thank you for your report, Kestrelpool," Seastar meowed to the bronze cat.

"Sunpaw also noticed a small stretch of land out about ten fox-lengths offshore that I'd never noticed before. It looks uninhabited, but if you want to send an exploration party out..."

As Kestrelpool added on this piece of information to the report, Seastar noticed a flicker of unease in Sunpaw's dark brown eyes. Wondering what it was about, he missed the rest of the report and looked up to find Kestrelpool also looking slightly discontented. Seastar felt a small chill and looked up. Darkening clouds and increasing wind gusts indicated to him that an incipient storm was on the horizon.

"Thanks for the report. There is a storm coming, so we will have to postpone the exploration until afterward. Herd the camp to the dens for the duration of the storm, please," mentioned Seastar.

,

The storm only lasted until late sunhigh, and by then the island was clean smelling and prey was just begging to be caught. Seastar took advantage of this and sent out several hunting patrols. He motioned Kestrelpool and his apprentice to his den.

"Sunpaw, what did you see about this island? Anything unusual?" inquired Seastar.

"Just that I had never seen it before. It looked like a patch of tall grass and full of large prey. But..." the goldenrod apprentice's voice became suddenly quiet, "I think it's already inhabited. I saw movement too big to be for prey..."

"Rogues. Just what we needed. Well, let's go ahead and have an exploration patrol to check out just how inhabited that island is," ordered Seastar. Kestrelpool, Sunpaw, and newly recruited warrior Palmprint went with Seastar through the forest, allowing Sunpaw to take the lead, since she was the one who knew exactly where the island was.

When they arrived, the smoky taste was in the air again. Not taking any notice to that, the four cats swam across the short stretch of water to get to the tiny strip of land. Seastar, noticing how much the reeds were rustling, motioned his group to keep low.

Several heartbeats later, a small rushing sound was heard. The group had no time to figure out what it was since it was already attacking them.

"Argh!" yelled Seastar in frustration as the figure pinned him with thorn sharp claws. Going limp, the figure moved on to Sunpaw, who was giving her her I'm-so-weak-and-helpless face. The feral cat moved on to Palmprint, and that was when Sunpaw and Seastar made their moves.

Pouncing on the cat, they sunk their claws deep into her back and bit down hard, close enough to the neck to be excruciatingly painful but not close enough to kill. The feral cat yowled with pain and retreated.

The four cats, though scratched up and bleeding, gave the feral cat a menacing look. She didn't back down, but instead began to speak.

"You are trespassing on my territory."

Kestrelpool and Seastar exchanged a frustrated yet amused glance. "I am Seastar, leader of LavaClan. I believe you are mistaken. This is _my_ territory, rogue," growled Seastar.

"Not as long as I am here, Seastar. Is this all of LavaClan? My family could take you down in a heartbeat. I'll bet you don't even own the volcano over there. As a matter of fact, I do. So get off my islands and SCRAM!" replied the rogue.

"You have a big mouth for such a small cat. What is your name?"

"Viper. Now SCRAM!" She took a step. Seeing that the patrol was not moving, she let out a weird sounding wail. She took another step. "You are making a stupid decision, fool. Leave now or face death!"

"Psst! Seastar, I think we should leave..." whispered Palmprint, eyeing the many battle-ready cats showing up behind Viper.

Looking extremely distempered, Seastar gave Viper a nasty looked and motioned his cats back to his island. "This isn't over, Viper. The island _will_ be mine," he meowed over his shoulder.

,

It was a half moon later, and Viper's siege on the island was as strong as ever. The weather had also favored them, so the LavaClan army had been kept inside their dens. Now it was clear, and beautiful weather for a battle if the cats had gotten any training.

The prey pile had been bursting at the seams, yet now prey was taking cover for some reason. _Some way to feed us before a battle..._ thought Seastar agitatedly to himself. For the past several days he had also started a training program in the rain, in case they had to fight in the rain.

When the rain had finally stopped, the wind picked up a tad, so the palms swayed more than usual. This did not bother the Clan, as they lived there all the time and knew perfectly well that the palms were sturdy trees, despite their looks.

Finally, the day came for battle. It was very windy out and overcast, but that would make the cats harder to hear and spot on the island, so they thought.

The cats slinked silently to the tiny island, led by Seastar who was accompanied with the apprentice Sunpaw. As they stepped onto the island, they heard a voice that sent shivers down each of their backs.

"So you have come again, I see. Well, after today, you will not be around to come again." Viper slipped out of the reeds and stood defiantly in front of the phalanx of LavaClan warriors and apprentices. "ATTACK!"

Viper's group of cats moved forward abruptly. Suddenly the island was a rush of fighting cats. The feral cats heavily outnumbered the LavaClan army, but it was much too late to retreat. In any case, LavaClan beat them in skill. The battle was evenly matched.

Viper had disappeared into the group of cats, and Seastar knew that if she was defeated, the whole band was defeated. Throwing off the tortoiseshell who was trying to sink its teeth into his neck, Seastar pushed his way though the crowd, scanning for Viper. No one took any notice of the weather until...

CRACK!

The fighting seemed to stop in slow motion as the cats turned in horror to find that lightning had struck. Now the astonished group of cats watched in terror as one of the old palms started toppling downward onto the island. Rain started falling in torrents.

Looking in the shadow of the tree, Seastar saw Viper standing in shock as the tree plummeted to the ground, landing with a sickening thud, accompanied by crackling. What could be seen of the cat was a mess and not moving. Viper was dead.

In realizing this, the feral cats could now hear a pandemonium of cheers from the LavaClan cats. Knowing they had been defeated, they began to jump off the island and swim out to sea, drowning themselves in humiliation. The stragglers were hurried on their way by triumphant LavaClan warriors. The rain intensified quickly, and soon enough the entire little island was empty of life.

Leading his patrol back to camp, Seastar stopped and turned to his Clan. Standing tall, he motioned a goldenrod-colored apprentice to the front.

Sunpaw, looking surprised, padded up to Seastar and sat in front of him.

"I, Seastar, leader of LavaClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn." He turned to Sunpaw. "Sunpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Sunpaw was shaking with excitement, but her reply was clear. "I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Sunpaw, from this moment on you shall be known as Sunflower. StarClan honors your courage and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of LavaClan." He rested his muzzled on Sunflower's head, receiving a lick on the shoulder in return.

Shouts of "Sunflower" probably could have been heard even on the Tribe's island.

"Sunflower, you shall sit vigil in the camp tonight in completion of the ceremony. However, we shall have a feast! Go and hunt and bring back your catch so that we may eat in plenty to celebrate our victory over the rogues! Go now!" Seastar ordered the Clan.

So the Clan caught prey and ate and slept for the rest of the night, except for Sunflower who was keeping her vigil. That morning she reported that the storm had pounded rain in squalls, and several branches knocked out of place.

,

Later that day, Seastar took a patrol over to the island where they fought. Looking out, he only saw water. Nothing but water, and the reflection of sky in the water.

Sunflower, who had refused to sleep in after vigil, was with the group, looking distraught. "Where did the island go?"

Seastar was watching the stretch of water with a glazed unfocused look about his eyes. After several moments, he came to, and began to speak.

"StarClan sent the rain to destroy our enemies. I believe that they believed that the island itself was an enemy of sorts, so the rain eroded or drowned it. But someday we shall see it again. We _will_ see it again..."


End file.
